The Third Round, A New Challenger
by Epsilon Adhara
Summary: As the Blue Blur investigates an island that the Death Egg crashed into, something goes wrong. Will the Hedgehog and his partner Tails survive, and find each other? And what is with the strange island? A retelling of Sonic 3 & Knuckles. Reviews welcome.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own Sonic, Tails, or any other character I happen to put in here. The Series belongs to Sega/Sonic Team. I make not a penny from this.

It was a warm, sunny day, out above the south seas. The sun itself was high, high up in the sky, a tad past noon. For two people, it didn't matter the time. Both were watching the horizon as a landmass came into view.

These two people were on a plane. A small, red biplane, with two seats. However, one was empty. The pilot had dropped the plane to a mere ten feet from the calm sea waters, and the passenger stood on one of the wings, one hand shading his eyes.

The pilot? A yellow-ish fox named Miles, though the kit preferred to be called 'Tails', on account of.. well, having two tails. On the wing, a living legend. A brilliant blue colour, the hedgehog was the one and only Sonic the Hedgehog. The fastest being alive, and saviour to many Mobians the world over.

"Hey, Sonic! Can you see anything?" The be-goggled fox had to shout over the wind to be heard, even at the low speed the plane was kept at.

"Sure do, Bud. Looks like it hit the side of that island's mountain... Say. I don't think this is on the map... " He rummaged through his pack, grabbing a folded map of the oceans and pulling it out. Unfolded, he got half a second look at the map before the wind quite literally out of his hands.

As he snapped his fingers with a light curse, Tails had to shout again, "Why don't you go check it out, Sonic? I'll bring in the plane behind you." The blue blur heard, smirked, and nodded.

Sonic lept into the air, the plane darting forward as he slowed. Lightning quick, he pulled seven gems from his pack. As he touched them, he felt... calm, then power overflowing, his blue fur shimmering into gold. The seven gems began to orbit him, as he stopped in mid-air.

He felt... invincible, and to tell the truth, he was. nothing he knew of could harm or stop him. It was simple, now. to go from stand still to his max speed; breaking the sound barrier with a crack. Flying above the sea, toes nearly skimming the waters at super sonic speeds. Power in his veins and the wind in his hair, he could get addicted to this. Probably why his friends forced them to be a world saving tool only.

Jetting past the bi-plane, he made for land. in seconds her was there. blue became tan, and then green in a split second, and he started to slow to sub sonic speed as not to head headlong into a tree or something. He passed a large rock formation, and the next thing he saw was dirt flying into the air a few yards before him, a flash of red, and then... pain. something he never felt before in 'Super Sonic' form. He could see two of the gems grow dull as his vision faded before blacking out entirely.

Far behind, Tails was pulling up to get a better look at the island. From this vantage, Sonic looked like a gold pinprick down below. The plan was to use Sonic as a landing signal, so it surprised the poor kit when Sonic's bright glow blinked out completely. Tilting the plane into an arch, Tails look down to see where the spot he had stopped was. No luck.

Wondering what happened, a unsettling sound of many engines filled Miles' ears. finding the source, three things happened. Eyes widened at the sight of a small-ish missile speeding it's way from a large ship to the bi-plane, the fox forced the plane to dive, and Tails prayed to whatever came to mind to help.

Sadly, the plane was not fast enough, and took the missile by it's tail section. Which in turn took out the fuel tanks for the most part. The bi-plane now glider was now destined to crash, but the plucky little genius that was the pilot pulled it into a stable glide long enough to make landing survivable. A forest below, made of large... mushrooms? looked like the landing spot.

The shock of the crash, coupled with being tossed into on of the hard, tree-like mushrooms knocked Tails out cold. Overall, a good day gone bad. quickly.


	2. Chapter 2

Blinding pain... reminded him of the first night after his first battle. But he shook it away like he did that time. forcing his eyes open, Sonic sat himself up. Tropical trees, rough geology, and... a strange mound of upturned soil a good ten feet from him.

That's right. Something hit him. Hard. Far harder then anything he ever was hit by if it could knock him in his chaos powered form. The next moments were simple. He checked himself first, and found nothing more then a painful bruise forming on one side of his face. His pack was there, too, and untouched. The gems were gone but that didn't matter at the moment. It was noon or so when he was knocked out, and the sun was setting already.

Poor Tails must be worried. Half a ration later, Sonic was on foot and jogging at a reasonable pace of forty mph. The hedgehog hopped over a fallen tree, lowering his view to see a wide valley. But before he could think bout how to cross it, a noise. A bush was crushed as a metal being ran straight through it. A wheeled... Rhino?

The workmanship was clear, of course. Robotnik had begun to take over the island. No use in letting one go free. Sonic took two steps and a short jump, straight over the thing's horns. It only noticed him when he landed astride the robotic creature. It's reaction was to flex and buck, moving at random speeds and patterns to removed the blue blur from it's back. Sonic, of course, was having a bit of fun yelling 'hee haw' and other such things, before he got a tad more serious. A push off, hand stand for a moment, and slamming his back into the joint between the neck and torso of the robot.

Spines pierced the flexible seal between the metal shell's parts and severed a few vital connections. He peeled himself off as it sparked and sputtered; turning to give the head a few solid kicks. On the third, the various latchs and things came loose, and the top part of the head popped off. A tiny rabbit was it's pilot. Sonic gently removed the animal, and set it free.

Back to what he was doing beforehand. It took a while, looking for a natural way across, before he noticed vines hanging from the dense canopy of the nearly jungle like area. He gave a grin, going back a few yards and making a flying leap to a vine making it swing and then letting go for the next. It wasn't too hard for him, since he had great reflexes and sense of distance, but as he got closer to the other side, letting go to land...

He clipped a low branch with his chest, groaning and holding it as he spun uncontrolled in the air and landing straight on his back. Wind rushed out of him quickly, his head hurt even more then before from smacking the back of it off the ground, and his back yelled at him for the landing. It took a few moments for his breath to come back, and more for him feel good enough to get off the ground.

"Yeah. Greeeat idea, hedgehog. Good thing no one saw that... Oh, man, my head." Sonic got to his feet, looking around a bit more. Ah! A trail. Looked like a animal trail to him. Probably water nearby. Clearly, this was a good thing. He began to follow it, but slowly this time, even if he hated going slow.

Not very long after, the blue hedgehog found a clearing. Not a large one, but hey, it didn't need to be. He could hear water nearby, so a slow jog across the clearing should get him there.

About half away across the clearing, he heard a soft whistling sound. Almost without thinking, Sonic hopped back and to one side a few feet. Where he just was was hit by a short fat rocket that exploded into a wide fireball. A large round ship dropped from the air, held aloft by four jets. Atop it, four hatchs for the rockets, and it's front seemed to have a flamthrower, if that tiny pilot flame at the barrel said anything.

Yep. Robotnik was at it again. And apparently knew he was here. Maybe. But it didn't matter. This thing could cause a forest fire. Or a jungle fire. He shook his head again and launched himself towards the machine. The front weapon fired a stream of.. well, fire. Ducking under the flames, Sonic tucked and rolled under the thing. Once under the center, he uncurled to kick it with both feet and sending it off balance for a little while.

And that while was all he needed as he ran circles around it to build up speed. Once at what he reasoned as enough, Sonic kicked off the ground into a ball and slamming into it's side. He rebounded off, and the machine had a large dent and even a gash in the metal thanks to his spines.It turned to retreat, but stopped with a shudder. A metallic 'beep' from within it...

All four hatchs burst open and fired one repeat. Even Sonic's blows couldn't stop it from finishing it's orders, and once it ran out, it retreated into the air, where the blue blur couldn't reach. He was angry, nay, furious. But he knew nothign could be done, even with his speed. He raced through the jungle as the firebombs rained down and lit everything on fire. Close calls here and there, forcing him to backtrack or zip between pillars for fire, but he finally found a cave and skid into it to wait out the bombs... and rest for a few minutes.


End file.
